Curcumin Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Pilot Study

Curcumin, a natural compound used as a food additive, has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in cell culture and animal studies. A pure curcumin preparation was administered in an open label study to five patients with ulcerative proctitis and five with Crohn’s disease. All proctitis patients improved, with reductions in concomitant medications in four, and four of five Crohn’s disease patients had lowered CDAI scores and sedimentation rates. This encouraging pilot study suggests the need for double-blind placebo-controlled follow-up studies. KEY WORDS: curcumin; ulcerative proctitis; Crohn’s disease; inflammatory bowel disease. Curcumin is a natural compound found in the plant Cur-cuma longa which is used as a food additive known as turmeric. The major pigment in turmeric is curcumin (chemical name diferuloymethane), which possesses both anti-inflammatory (1, 2) and antioxidant properties (3, 4) Topical application of curcumin inhibits carcinogen-induced DMA adduct formation and the development of skin tumors. Curcumin also strongly inhibits proliferatio